Orifice definition

ôrə-fĭs, ŏr-
orifices
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Frequency:
The definition of an orifice is an opening, especially an opening to the body or the opening of a tube or pipe.

The mouth is an example of an orifice.

noun
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An opening, especially to a cavity or passage of the body.
noun
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A mouth or aperture of a tube, cavity, etc.; opening.
noun
2
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A mouth or aperture, as of a tube, pipe, etc.; an opening; as,
noun
2
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An opening, especially to a cavity or passage of the body; a mouth or vent.
noun
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
orifice
Plural:
orifices

Origin of orifice

  • Middle English from Old French from Late Latin ōrificium Latin ōs ōr- mouth ōs- in Indo-European roots Latin -ficium a making, doing (from facere to make dhē- in Indo-European roots)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin orificium (“an opening, literally the making of a mouth"), compound of os (“mouth") + facere (“to make")

    From Wiktionary

Orifice Sentence Examples

  • Genital orifice not covered by an operculum.

  • He had discovered a contraction in the vein of fluid (vena contracta) which issued from the orifice, and found that, at the distance of about a diameter of the aperture, the section of the vein was contracted in the subduplicate ratio of two to one.

  • The water is expelled from the branchial chambers by one or two tubes opening by one orifice in most Batrachians.

  • There are likewise two pulmonary veins, entering the left atrium by one orifice.

  • He remarked that the flow of water from an orifice depends not only on the magnitude of the orifice itself, but also on the height of the water in the reservoir; and that a pipe employed to carry off a portion of water from an aqueduct should, as circumstances required, have a position more or less inclined to the original direction of the current.

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